Update on CPS

Well i sowed my drosera and nepenthes seeds on the 22nd Oct and yesterday when i went to check on the pots, i noticed that the d.tokaiensis, d.spatulata and d.oblanceolata pots have germinated! d.paradoxa and my nepenthes seeds seems to be still dormant so keeping my fingers crossed! well temperature inside the tank goes up to 29 degrees celsius now. hmm wondering if that is too hot for the droseras…i think should be ok cos temperature in asia can sometimes get up to 30 degrees celsius or more. not so sure about humidity levels since i do not have a hygrometer yet. have to get one soon so i can monitor it.

What i did tho was put the tokaiensis, oblanceolata and paradoxa pots together on one tray and filled the tray with a bit of distilled water. i am experimenting here. hehe hoping that the hormones from the tokaiensis and oblanceolata might leech out onto the tray and seep into the pot of paradoxa seeds. lets see if they germinate eventually. (keeping fingers crossed)

i noticed a flower scape showing on my 3rd d.intermedia so now i have 3 intermedias about to flower! that means more seeds! how exciting! i did trimmed off the dead leaves and had chose the not so dead looking ones and put it into a cup of distilled water, and the ones that looks almost expired i chuck it into another pot of peat, sp moss and perlite mix. lets see if these lots will propagate like the last lot of leaves which i had left in the main pot (those propagated into baby intermedias)

so far so good! i am happy and satisfied for now. will sow the d.indica (green and red form) and byblis liniflora seeds tonight.

at the rate things are going, i think i need to find another table for the other tank so that i can set it up for the new batch of drosera babies coming!

 

 

Of bees and honey….

Recently not too long ago a canadian friend approached me to help him with designing a label for his new product – honey. I took it on so that I would have one more thing to add to my portfolio.

Here is my design

Original Honey label design on Corel draw

It is a really simple design and not all that hard to do. Pictures were taken and provided for by him. I did the design on corel draw, turn out his printer wanted an illustrator file instead, since he did not have enough time to get a hold of me, he went and converted the file by himself and now it looks like this!

Honey label design after the conversion from Corel draw to Adobe illustrator

The colors looked a little off…. but overall the design is still the same.

His bees have started producing honey and he had already harvest his first bottle. The honey is somewhere in canada, floating around with my design on it!

Here is a pic of him holding his very 1st bottle of honey!

Eric with his 1st bottle of honey

and pics of eric with his bees!

Eric checking on his bees

Eric about to bite into the comb!

Eric working with his bees

BEEZZZZzzzz

More bees

Bees

My Terrarium

I had wanted a terrarium almost the very day I sowed my drosera intermedia seeds. That was towards the end of May 2009. It did not materialized until now. But right before that I was using a temporary setup.

It seems to work for me then maybe this can help newbies who are first starting up and do not have the budget for a proper light set up yet. BUT bear in mind this only worked cos my droseras were seedlings, as it got bigger I found that I needed more lights especially if I am to have them potted up separately.

My 1st light setup

For the above setup, I was using a 9 watt cold light energy saving bulb (which is equivalent to a 60 watt regular non saving bulb) .

Now as far as I know the droseras I am growing need lots of sunlight, and since my place is not really suitable for putting them outdoors due to my pets being able to get their dirty little paws on them ( I have had experience of my pets mangling up my regular plants and shrubs enough to know ) I had decided to grow them indoors. Since I sowed the seeds during late fall, sunlight was really limited and my windows were not really idea and when they germinated, I resorted to using regular lights just to experiment and test it out. Surprisingly that first setup there where I had the container of d.intermedia seeds handing from the light, they germinated a few days later when I had switched to putting the container there. Prior to that I had them sitting on a table which was then placed right next to the window to try and catch some rays. Coincidence or was it the lights that woke the seeds up? I can’t really say for now.

So when the d.intermedias started showing their 2nd set of carnivorous leaves I then changed the setup to the table along with a table light. This time I started using a regular 60 watt warm light, this was still in winter and my house tends to be on the cold side, thus I switched to the regular bulb because it actually emits heat and that could give the d.intermedias some warmth.

2nd temp. setup

While using this 2nd setup, one d.intermedia was growing really fast, I think apart from the warm light being so close to it, it could also be due to the fact that it had its own pot to grow in instead of the communal pot, and subsequently this d.intermedia started growing a flower scape, and then later another 2nd flower scape started to form.

Then when I came into possession of extra drosera and nepenthes seeds (D.sessilifolia, oblanceolata, paradox, byblis liniflora, spatulata, tokaiensis, indica and N.mirabilis, stenophylla and N. sp. Pangà), I sowed them all and had to add more lights! This was what I came up with.

3rd temp. setup

Finally just two days ago I had the time to clean out the old fish tank that was given by a friend and then I had it all set up and ready to go. What is now missing is a permanent top with lights fixture so currently still using these table lamps for lights.

Terrarium

I had lined the inside with aluminum foil to test out and see if it actually can reflect enough light for the plants, if it does maybe I would save some money on buying the actual proper lights for now since I do have a budget. Keeping fingers crossed. Alas one fish tank is also not enough to be honest, i have 4 more pots of seeds which cannot fit in due to them being sowed into big pots, so I think I will definitely need one more fish tank, which is not a problem cos my friend had left 3 fish tanks here for me! One being almost 6 feet long but space is a problem for me. For now I will deal with what I can do first and need to work on getting a table setup for the long tank!

Anyway here are some more pics of my other d.intermedia that is flowering now

Asado

Today I am going to talk about asado. Asado is an argentine way of bbq. It usually consists of various meat being grilled, over hot coals or burning embers of wood or a mix of both, over an iron grill called a parrilla. You may say what is so special about an asado, its just like any barbecue, well technically no.

1st is in the meat, the cuts are very different, they have vacio (flank), matambre (meat just under the skin – the lower part of the ribs to belly or flank area),  asado (ribs, yes and its also called asado ) just to name a few.

2nd there is no elaborate seasoning done, only salt is used, just to sidetrack a bit – when I had my 1st asado, I was asking my friend what seasoning does she use? and i actually wanted to season my chicken with the works (oyster sauce, chilli, etc) and my friend almost keeled over in shock. She said “Just salt”.

3rd the food has a smoky flavour to it. No special wood use as far as I am aware, not like the hickory smoke chips we can get back home from the supermarket. And they are juicy and yummy!

Apart from meat, they do have chorizos (sausages), morcilla (blood sausages), chinchulin (initial portion of small intestine), mollejas (sweetbreads) etc. These usually come along as an accompaniment with the meat.

Of course some will have this sauce with their grilled meat called chimichurri, a mix of garlic, oregano, salt and aji molido (grind chilli that is not spicy) and oil.

Almost every household will have an out door parrilla place where they can start an asado. Here is a picture of an outdoor parrilla.

Outdoor parrilla

An asado can be easily done at home or at the park or anywhere, all you need is wood, a portable iron grill and a fork and knife set (usually comes in its own casing and all, some even includes a small wooden board along with it). I know of someone who actually have his grill in the boot of his car at all times! Some time back when the teachers had a strike at the city palace, he whipped out his grill and started an asado right outside for his fellow colleagues and himself. Since the others had no cutleries they bought some bread and had their meat wrapped in bread! Easy peasy! So have grill will travel indeed!

Portable parrilla

 

Asado by the lake (lake is behind the photographer)

Basically a fire is started using dry wood and left to burn, sometimes charcoal is piled on at a later stage when the pieces of wood are burning, once they are glowing red embers, the wood/charcoal is then evenly distributed below the grill, this would usually take an hour or so before the meat gets cooked.

Starting a fire

Meat on the parrilla

Chicken on parrilla

 

Yummy chorizo with salad and beets!

So apart from alfajores (alfa-hor-ras) and yerba mate (ger-ba mah-teh), we will talk about those another time, asado is the next most common and popular thing in Argentina. So popular I would think it is almost a culture on its own. On a public holiday or weekend, one can get a wonderful aroma of asado in the air as one walk through any neighborhood (almost).

Game over!

Open your mind, dear readers…. imagine….
a blank screen suddenly filled with various pests, insects and bugs that plagues plants, just like the old classic space invaders game, slowly moving its way down the screen and your mission is to eradicate them all else the speed of them descend accelerates and will eventually come crashing down on you before you can say “DIE EVIL VERMINS!”

So before you, you see your bottle of pesticide which is movable from left to right using the space bar, to fire at the vermins, button for firing is “Enter”. As you rapidly shoot away at the descending vermins, you try to kill them as fast as they appear. Just as you have cleared them down to the last line of descending vermins, their speed escalated and descended down FAST on you, before you know it GAME OVER! —- to replay press “START”

AH so as you can see battling these pests that plagues my plants are really frustrating. I keep them indoors so as to try and contain them and keep it under better control. I had left plants outdoor in my garden only to find aphids feasting on them. Much as I regularly spray the leaves and plants with a lethal homemade concoction of boiling a mix of onions, garlic and hot chili peppers in 2 litres of water, reduced down to 1 liter or less. Nothing seems to work. I did not want to use commercially available pesticides as those contain chemicals and I do have food plants nearby as well and have no wish to contaminate them with chemicals. I learn from my online gardening friends on the use of neem oil and such. To be really honest, neem oil is not found in my city, it can be found in Buenos Aires I am sure. OR maybe they do have neem oil here but its called something else in spanish. WHO KNOWS?!?!? So anyway, I continued to battle on, on my own with other various organic ways, initially it seems to work but eventually they come back again and again. OH the hassle of it all! In the end I seriously give up.

Well no I have not stopped gardening exactly, I just refused to get new plants or to be bothered with the pests anymore. Furthermore I decided that carnivorous plants are more fun! No doubt they will get their share of pests eventually, but I hope they (the vermins) will never find my secret stash safely tuck away in the corner of my spare room, locked away from all that hullabaloo.

New Plants

I seriously swear i was going off regular plants for good and just focus on carnivorous plants cos they are somewhat easier in terms of no fertilizer needed etc etc. Carnivorous plants can be somewhat fastidious but i feel it is easier for me since i can more or less contain it within a certain location and control it from attacks from pests, at least so far so good on my few current drosera intermedias.

Anyway I was at the nursery a week ago to get some new pots and I chance upon a pot of chamomile, this flowering succulent, strawberry plants and pimiento seedlings. I got tempted and waivered and finally caved in and bought them all.

Chamomile – well i had germinated them from seeds successfully but they never grow any bigger then 1cm tall for me and would expire. This one does not look fantastically lush but it seems to be more established so decided i would try it this round with a bought plant. Lets hope this time it works for me.

Chamomile Blooms

Chamomile

Strawberry plants – this is my 3rd time trying, i managed to kill them the 1st 2 times.

Strawberry Plants

CU of Strawberry Plant

Doesn’t it look healthy! Let’s hope i get some strawberries from them soon heheh.

Pimiento seedlings – well they are somewhat like capsicum, but the shape is more heart shape, compact and smaller than a red capsicum, they taste better too especially when roasted in the oven with some garlic and oil. The seedlings looks exactly like a chilli or capsicum seedling would look. sorry no pics to show here.

Lewisia Cotyledon, a succulent - just cos they tend to grow better for me and this one has wonderful bright pink blooms. (thanks to a reader, J who identified the genus for me)

Lewisia Cotyledon

ECU of a Lewisia Cotyledon flower

Lewisia Cotyledon

Doesn’t it look pretty?

Spring

Spring was officially here on 21st September. This is my 4th spring in Argentina. I look forward to spring, mainly cos you see a medley of colors coming to life after 3 months of dull grey dreary winter colors (it does not snow here), so you can imagine my excitement when spring approaches. Spring also means its time to go pot up my seedlings that i have planted during fall or winter and kept indoors. Either that or it means a visit to the nursery to get new plants!

Well this spring was a little different. First I was able to witness some wonderful blooms from a friend’s, Norma, garden. In her garden there were numerous rose bushes, an assortment of fruit trees and other foliage plants. What really interested me were the fruit trees really. Now mind you, Norma is no avid gardener, tell her about mealy bugs, thripes and red spider mites and she would go “QUE?”, meaning “What?” in spanish. Norma speaks english and understands it only if i speak slowly, so very often i get excited and start blabbering off she would go “QUE? sorry i do not understand you, pls speak slowly” hehe. Anyway well she has a plum tree, 2 nectarine trees, 1 cherry tree and 2 to 3 grape vines in her garden. For a non avid gardener, how she came into possession of a garden abundant with ornamental and fruit trees is because she rented the house.

And so i was busy pottering round her garden on the 21st checking out the plants and blooms and here are some pictures to share.

Nectarine Bloom

Nectarine Blooms

Nectarine Tree

Plum Blooms

Plum Tree

Cherry Blooms

and an assortment of some spring ornamental blooms

i like this next one

Tristagma Uniflorum

ECU of Tristagma Uniflorum

Underside of Tristagma Uniflorum

My header pics

Just two months ago i made a trip to Villa La Angostura and Bariloche (roughly around 6hr drive give and take). It was a road trip. One of the many we make every 6mths. Its kind of like a little get away from the city and home and the animals. We usually drive up (and most times i would fall asleep almost right away).

Chocón is a city about 70km away from our starting point, I usually wake up only when we pull into the petrol kiosks to fill up so i usually miss these signs along the way. This round i managed to not only stay awake to catch the signs but throughout the whole drive up.

So anyway more about  Chocón, its a city  where fossils, bones and even real footprints of dinosaurs captured in rock have been found. There is a museum that houses the Giganotosaurio Carolinii , a predator somewhat similar to the T-Rex, but much taller (5,5 mts), longer (16 mts), and heavier (10 tons). You can read more about the discovery of the Giganotosaurio Carolinii here – NY Times

So on with the real purpose of the signages, i now present them to u.

Sign 01

Notice how the first sign shows a bite mark…..followed by

Sign 02

2nd sign shows a dinosaur with its jaws wide open showing ferocious looking teeth….

Sign 03

then 3rd sign with a dinosaur biting onto the sign that welcomes one to Chocón.

I found it hilarious and cute and thought it was a great way to advertise and promote the city.

An unforgivable act

I meant to blog about spring and asados, however something happened today which really pissed me off.

My cat, michu committed a really sacrilegious act. ONE that I will not be able to get over so soon.

My last blog was about my drosera intermedia. It was growing really well and has even produced 2 flower scapes. What I know from a fellow forumner on gcs was that for a sundew to produce 2 scape its growing healthy and have loads of energy. I was happy to know that I am providing well for my drosera.

Anyway, this morning I was suddenly woken from my sleep, due to what I am not sure, but I think I was dreaming and kind of woke up from it. The first thing I did was come out of the room and look. When I came out i saw that the door to the spare room was ajar! O NO…. the next thing that came into my sight was the cat sitting on the bed looking like she bloody owns it. The next reaction was to turn and look at my plants! I saw a gaping hole in the pot, where the roots used to sit….the drosera was no where in sight…I exploded. I grabbed the cat and shove her face into the set up showing her my empty pot…and ask her “WHAT DID U DO TO MY PLANT MICHU!” ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously i do not know what to do, cry or “kill” the damn cat. In the end I chose to do both. Well did not kill her but I did spank her bottom tho.

carni…..CARni…..carNI….CARNIvorous…..

I first saw a picture of a sundew, also known as drosera, in gcs forums. the ruby red gobules encased in another crystal clear bubble was mesmerizing. as i googled and read up more about it and found more images of various sundews, i knew i was trapped just like a helpless insect.

i started looking for sundews in the nurseries and found none. i did a search on the ebay of latin america and found people selling seeds of sundews…. BINGO! but wait, how hard is it to grow them from seeds? ok back to gcs forums and massively digged through the various threads under drosera to read, what a massive load of info.

i read through some posts over and over again just to make sure i understand. then arm with that new found knowledge i ordered some seeds from this guy living in buenos aires. i ordered a mix of capensis, spatulata and intermedia seeds. i could not wait to start. before my seeds arrived i made a post to ask for more advice.

when i finally got my seeds, i once again went back to forums and read through the posts i had bookmarked. chopped spahgnum, mix with perlite, mix with long fibre spaghnum moss, mix well, make sure its moist and put it in a container or pot with drainage holes at the bottom. sprinkle the very fine seeds over it and cover it and leave it in a dark place and let it grow.

the wait was agonizing….every other day i would go check on the pots. after one week had passed i saw something sprouting in one of the pots. i was excited but cautioned myself incase it was a false alarm. took a pic of it and posted in gcs asking for help. turn out IT was a false alarm. nothing showing. soon one month passed, still nothing, almost two months had passed, two pots had fungus growing in it….damn, i must have done something wrong. the 3rd pot was fine still. crossed my fingers and waited. then one day, just as i was about to give up hope, i noticed a tiny little sprout showing!

i frantically googled for images of carnivorous seedlings and came across some that showed almost the same as what mine looks like, again i cautioned myself. everyday i check on it. soon i found more seedlings sprouting. eventually the 1st seedling showed more leaves and boy was i overjoyed! they are drosera seedlings!

so now having sowed the seeds at the begining of june, its been 4 months plus and one of my drosera is starting to have flower scapes. yes scapeS. not one but two!

here are some pics to show.

drosera intermedia seedling

1st flowerscape

2nd flowerscape

drosera intermedia

drosera intermedia